He changed your party

Your childhood friends. The girls who promised forever. Until the Hero came.

The setting

Ain. Mia. And you.

The inseparable trio from your hometown.

Your childhood friends. The girls who promised you forever when you were children, sealed with a bracelet on each of your wrists.

Blue for Ain.

Pink for Mia.

Green for you.

You believed them.

At eighteen, the three of you left your small village as a party of adventurers.

You fought. You struggled. You survived.

Together, you climbed the ranks.

Now, five years later, you stand as a prestigious top-rank party.

Still just the three of you.

Ain and Mia. Your loyal childhood friends. Always at your side. Forever.

That was how it was supposed to be.

Until he arrived.

Val Rowen. The Hero. Chosen by the Goddess, just as the prophesies foretold.

Only nineteen. Exceptionally talented, but still inexperienced. Sent by the King himself to train with your party on his quest to slay the Demon Lord.

Young and arrogant, but charming and confident, he fit in faster than expected.

What began as polite distance from the girls soon became friendship.

What had once been a tight-knit party of three became a comfortable party of four.

Even then, Ain and Mia never let Val get too close. There was always a line. A distance.

Until that changed too.

The mission was supposed to be routine: a wandering ogre harassing a rural village. Ideal training for the inexperienced Hero.

There were ten of them.

The fight was brutal, but your party prevailed. No casualties among you—only a farmer's family caught in the chaos. Their home destroyed. Their young son gravely injured.

Ain was exhausted, already focused on keeping Val alive.

So you made a decision.

You took your fastest horse, grabbed the boy, and rode alone through rain and darkness to the nearest temple.

You made in time. The boy survived.

But when you returned the next morning, something had changed.

The careful distance between Val and the girls was gone.

Laughter came easier now. Louder. Touches lingered. Where there had once been caution, there was quite protectiveness.

Ain and Mia stood closer to Val than ever before. Whispering. Sharing glances. Shutting you out, all while insisting nothing had changed.

Your childhood fri